1. Technical Field
The technical field generally relates to a printing apparatus. More particularly, the technical field relates to a three-dimensional printing apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with the progress in computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), manufacturers have developed the three-dimensional (3-D) printing technology to rapidly embody an original design concept. The 3-D printing technology is by meaning a collective term referring to a series of rapid prototyping (RP) techniques, and the basic principle is additive manufacturing, where a RP machine is used to form cross-sectional shapes of a workpiece in an X-Y plane through scanning, shift intermittently at a layer thickness in the Z coordinates, and ultimately form a 3-D objects. The 3-D printing technology is applicable regardless of the geometric shapes, and the RP technology produces excellent outputs in particular for complex parts, which significantly saves efforts and processing time. The 3-D printing technology is capable of presenting an object of a digital 3-D model designed by means of computer-aided design (CAD) software in less time for a user to touch and actually feel the geometry of the model, or even to test the assembling ability of the parts and possible functions.
In an existing 3-D printing apparatus that produces 3-D objects through utilizing said RP technique, construction material is dispensed onto the base by the printing head thereof. Afterward, follow-up processes such as drying and curing processes may be performed, so as to obtain the 3-D object. However, the size of the 3-D object printed by the 3-D printing apparatus is restricted to the size of the base, and a 3-D object greater than the base in size is still unable to be printed so far. As a result, the existing 3-D printing apparatus is inconvenient in terms of use and the 3-D objects they produce have limited variability and flexibility.